Submitted photos via Tribune News ServiceAfter traveling on her own to Turkey, Meriwether Falk moved there in 2015 to teach writing and language arts at a private high school. Falk, after a potentially dangerous incident at a cheap hotel, believes paying for nice lodging is more than worth the cost.

Meriwether Falk, 32, of Portland, lived in Istanbul in the summer of 2012 and now has moved there to teach writing and language arts at a private high school. But during that summer, she learned an invaluable lesson about women traveling solo.

She had been staying in what she called a “cheap hotel in Izmir,” when, she says, “I was awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night, some man saying ‘Sexy, let me in.’” She hung up immediately, but the next thing she knew, she heard a key turning in the door. Leaping out of bed, she shoved all of her weight against the door, and at the same time, she recalls, “I let out a hair-raising scream that could have woken Ataturk from his grave.” Her shouts apparently scared the man, whom she suspected to be the clerk who worked at the front desk.

Later, when she talked to the police, they wanted to know why she was reporting the incident if she hadn’t been raped.

The lesson in this, she says, is to pay extra for a nice hotel. Instead of calling it a splurge, she calls it a safety measure.

“I love Turkey and exploring Istanbul,” she says, adding, “As in any country, women have to be extra cautious when traveling alone. I can’t allow fear of men in unfamiliar countries to dictate where I choose to live and work. I believe women should not only take back the night, but take back the world, because traveling without fear of being raped is a fundamental right.”

Going it alone

Women who hit the road solo realize the journey can sometimes be difficult and even dangerous. While today’s ladies know how to travel, I recently asked a few global road warriors — both ladies and gentlemen — for their best safety tips and suggestions that might come in handy one day to keep even the most seasoned of travelers safe and comfortable.

Gary Galanis, a globetrotting former spirits company executive who now consults for the Hawthorn Group, a public affairs firm in Alexandria, has just this past year traveled with the Bridge Foundation, a medical and nutritional aid relief organization. Galanis’ humanitarian missions took him to remote corners of the world, including to Kathmandu, Nepal, for earthquake relief, Beirut for help with a Syrian refugee strategy and Pyongyang, North Korea, for a humanitarian mission.

“This is important for anyone traveling abroad, but especially for women traveling alone who are often the target of theft,” he states. “Take photos of your passport and then send them via email to your traveling companions and friends and family members who you can reach out to if you lose your passport, have it stolen or run into visa issues.”

Far-flung, off-the-beaten trail destinations often don’t have cell service, so Galanis also advises renting a satellite phone so that being in touch with home is easier.

While some ladies might want to show off their diamonds and pearls in those far-flung places, public relations professional and international road warrior Sarah Burling Devaney of Chicago advises leaving the good jewelry at home so as not to become a target for thieves attracted to sparkly baubles. And she suggests to always ask questions about a destination before you go.

“When traveling to emerging countries for the first time such as India or Brazil, I always speak to a friend or colleague who has been there, to get the low-down before I depart,” Devaney advises. “They can tell me which areas to avoid and which are safest.”

At the hotel

For ladies traveling by road, take a hint from Diane McCray Crews of Savannah, Georgia. “Try to stay in bed and breakfast inns when you travel,” says the owner of the Green Palm Inn in Savannah’s Historic District. “The owner or innkeeper knows where you are in their fair city and can get you from point A to point B in the best and most efficient manner.”

Jane Coloccia Teixeira, a California-based public relations and social media consultant, also is constantly traveling by herself.

“My advice for traveling alone is to not accept a hotel room at the end of the hall near the stairwell,” she says.

Teixeira explains that her husband had once traveled every week, and he jokingly dubs the rooms by the stairwells “murder central,” in that anyone could lurk around in them to quickly commit a crime, and then vamoose back down the stairs for a quick getaway.

She also suggests asking for another room if the front desk agent repeats the number out loud so others can hear it.

As a onetime travel agent, a safety measure I advise other women traveling alone to take is to seek out hotels with indoor corridors instead of those almost-extinct roadside drive-up-to-your-room motels. Those motels are often extremely dimly lit, and it takes only a moment for a creep to shove his way into your room.

On the way

When nature calls when I’m on the road, I prefer to stop at a newer, brightly lit indoor corridor hotel along the lines of Fairfield Inn or Holiday Inn Express. Almost always a bathroom is in the lobby, and I politely ask at the front desk if it’s OK that I use their powder room. It’s much safer and cleaner than stopping at a convenience store, gas station or even an interstate rest area, where security is often nonexistent.

Jamie Whitaker Sease of Ridgeland, South Carolina, worked in tourism for several years, and she says she often combines rest stops with shopping. When she’s on the road, her restroom breaks include a stop at a Cracker Barrel, where customers are always milling around. But, she adds, the added bonus is that she gets to browse its Old Country Store, the colorful gift shop where the restrooms are located, for special finds.

Sherri Findley Smith of Columbus, Georgia, a now-retired medical technologist, offers practical advice for on the road. If she and her husband are traveling together, she suggests always locking the car door if he must get out someplace without her.

“Make sure you are aware of what’s around you at all times,” she offers. “But if someone comes up to your car, never unlock your car door. Having cellphones now is a wonderful thing for travel.”

Traveling anywhere

Lazelle Jones, a writer who covers among other things travel, RV lifestyle and autos, takes Smith’s tips even further: “My wife says to always listen to your inner voice. If you don’t feel it’s right, then it’s not. Women are given intuition for a reason.”

He’s right. In the past two decades, I’ve relied on intuition to take me on plenty of solo trips around the world and all of them safely. The thing about intuition is that you learn simply to not put yourself at risk. Even when I was younger and thinner and could pass for pretty, I chose not to frequent bars in strange cities or foreign lands unless I was with friends or colleagues. While it helps that I’m not really a bar girl, I just like to be safe from creeps who prey on women in these situations.

As a technophobic, I really, really, really — did I say really? — like the travel tip of Nashville, Tennessee-based Melissa Corbin of Corbin in the Dell, a culinary and social media consultancy.

“Hang up the damn phone!” she says emphatically. She points out that as long as you’re on the telephone or texting, you’re off-guard and not aware of your surroundings, the perfect setup for purse and phone snatchings.

Yet another sliver of advice for any woman traveling alone comes from Abbie Thompson Harris, an emergency medical technician from Winder, Georgia. As much as Facebookers, Instagrammers and Tweeters like to post photos and notes on social media sites from faraway, exotic lands, she says to resist the urge. Too many ne’er-do-wells troll social media sites looking for easy targets. Plus, she adds, it invites thieves into your empty house back home.

Checking in

Tricia Szulewski of Motorcycle magazine and American Iron Magazine is often alone on the road, just her and her motorcycle and the wind. She suggests that it’s a good idea to check in often with someone at home. “Let somebody know where you are,” she says. “It’s just common sense.”

And finally, with more women on the road alone, always carry yourself with a little attitude, says Maisa Fernandez, a world traveler since she was a child and co-founder of Globa.li, a marketplace for boutique hotels worldwide.

“Don’t be afraid to dine alone,” she intones. “It’s easily the most liberating thing a woman on the road can do. People engage more if you give off a laid back aura. Just make sure not to share too much about where you are staying or your personal details.

“And the solitude, when needed, can be so incredible, too.”